Coastal Issues

Image Credit
Satellite image of Tampa Bay on the western coast of Florida. NASA Image by Robert Simmon, based on Landsat data provided by the UMD Global Land Cover Facility.
NASA Earth Observatory

Image of the Encina Power Station, future site of the Carlsbad Project, a 6 acre desalination plant--the largest in the United States. Courtesy of Poseidon Water

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid more than $38 billion in claims since 1978. It was meant to be a self-supporting system, but currently costs American taxpayers $200 million per year. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will outline some of the reasons why this program is not working, especially as extreme weather becomes more prevalent, increasing levels of destruction.

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Over the past few years, demand for seaweed has grown beyond its status as a long-lived local, seasonal harvest. Today it is used for fertilizer, health products, and as an additive to processed food. Rockweed has become vulnerable to larger corporate interests, yet another under-regulated natural resource that is under-managed, over-harvested, and over-exploited.

In a continuation of last week's episode, "Hard Edges," host Peter Neill argues that the hard edge has failed us, evidenced by storms that overwhelm barriers and destroy coastal structures. In this episode he will give examples of some of the slowly emerging examples of soft edge engineering and will ask, "How can we turn the new circumstances brought on by sea level rise to our advantage?"
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Our traditional approach to protection from sea and surge has been the hard edge, with the mission to shield us from the encroachment of water. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will take us through the history of the industrial management of ports, wetlands and watersheds and will share some modern examples of "hard edge" engineering and the challenges for existing structures in the face of projected sea level rise, extreme weather and coastal flooding.

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As the power is restored, transportation comes back online, and life and order return to a semblance of normal, another storm fades from memory. Yet superstorm Sandy has left us with some very hard questions and facts. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill will pose a series of questions that demand answers and will suggest that if we begin to change our ways now we may yet realize a habitable future living by and with the sea.